In a morbid coincidence, the winning number in one of the New Jersey Lottery's games Monday was the same as the number of the American Airlines flight that crashed in Queens earlier in the day: 587.

So many lottery players chose the number for tickets for the evening Pick 3 drawing that the payout was unusually low, just $16 for a straight match. The box and pair payouts also were very low, at $2.50 and $1.50, respectively.

On a typical day, the straight bet payout for Pick 3 is $275, lottery officials said.

In another coincidence, the Pick 3 number chosen for the lottery's new midday drawing, which debuted Monday, was a variation on the flight number, 578.

Players who picked 587 for that drawing won a box payout of $13.50. The straight payout for the midday Pick 3 game was $81.50.

I saw 884 on a delivery truck as I came out of a store Friday afternoon - thought it was a sign that the "out in 2011" double 488 was coming! I'm still on it, and all "out in 2011" numbers that are left - some are coming up on TWO YEARS OUT!

Extra attention paid to 488599 and 779 and two times on all trips! And that 159 has to drop sometime!

Seems so simple: three digits, 168 to one odds when boxed... all you have to do is pick the right ones!

In a morbid coincidence, the winning number in one of the New Jersey Lottery's games Monday was the same as the number of the American Airlines flight that crashed in Queens earlier in the day: 587.

So many lottery players chose the number for tickets for the evening Pick 3 drawing that the payout was unusually low, just $16 for a straight match. The box and pair payouts also were very low, at $2.50 and $1.50, respectively.

On a typical day, the straight bet payout for Pick 3 is $275, lottery officials said.

In another coincidence, the Pick 3 number chosen for the lottery's new midday drawing, which debuted Monday, was a variation on the flight number, 578.

Players who picked 587 for that drawing won a box payout of $13.50. The straight payout for the midday Pick 3 game was $81.50.